- China: Court sentences three people to death for running brutal scam centers in Myanmar
Source: CBS News
“A Chinese court sentenced three members of a criminal gang to death on Tuesday for operating a network of brutal scam centers in Myanmar’s Kokang region on the border with China, while jailing dozens more. … Quanzhou Intermediate People’s Court said in a statement on Tuesday that it had sentenced Wei Huairen, Chen Dawei, and Liao Jingfang to death for their involvement in the ‘Wei family criminal gang.’ The gang was involved in crimes including drug trafficking, organizing prostitution, operating illegal casinos, telecommunications fraud, and the murder of at least two Chinese citizens, the court said. … Another three gang members were handed life sentences, while 55 more were given prison terms ranging from 24 years to three years and three months, the court said.” (10/13/260
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/death-sentences-scam-centers-myanmar/
- Trump flies to Alaska in last-ditch attempt to save US Senate seat for GOP
Source: Newport News Daily Press
“It’s a long way from Washington, has a small population and hasn’t backed a Democrat for Senate in nearly 20 years. Yet President Donald Trump on Tuesday will devote a big chunk of his dwindling time ahead of crucial midterm elections to head all the way to Alaska — attempting to bolster a Republican incumbent senator in another sign of GOP fears about retaining control of Congress after Election Day on Nov. 3. Trump is headlining a rally for Sen. Dan Sullivan in Wasilla, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) north of Anchorage — famous for being the hometown of former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin and the headquarters of the Iditarod sled dog race across the state. … Seeking his third Senate term, Sullivan faces Democrat Mary Peltola, a former congresswoman running to put ‘Alaska First,’ emphasizing cost-of-living issues.” (10/13/26)
- Cornell suspends fraternity parties, gives state police role in investigating campus assault reports
Source: SFGate
“Cornell University is suspending parties and other social events at fraternity houses for the rest of the academic year and will give the New York State Police a role in investigating sex crimes on campus, university officials announced Tuesday, amid mounting outrage over its handling of allegations that a female student was sexually assaulted at a fraternity house in 2024. The measures announced by Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff include a suspension of all parties and social events at Interfraternity Council houses through the end of the 2026-27 academic year and a new ‘zero tolerance’ policy for violations that would result in the immediate emergency suspension of a chapter.” [editor’s note: The majority of Cornell frat houses are privately owned and not on university property — but the school administration has waved a magic wand and declared them to be “campus housing” – TLK] (10/13/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/cornell-suspends-fraternity-parties-rest-academic-22475327.php
- Report: Paxton attended 2025 Dubai New Year’s party with US fugitives
Source: Washington Examiner
“Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton attended a 2025 New Year’s party in Dubai with two fugitives who did not return to the United States, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal. The revelation comes as the Trump-backed Republican challenges Texas Democrat James Talarico in the final weeks of the Senate race. Paxton was seen in a short video celebrating the start of New Year’s Day atop a high-rise building with Anosh Ahmed and Sameer Suhail, two U.S. citizens who had been indicted on federal charges related to healthcare fraud in 2024. The two men were accused of embezzling more than $15 million in funds from a Chicago hospital into bank accounts they owned, the Department of Justice said in July 2024. Ahmed, a former healthcare executive, had donated $190,000 to Paxton, according to campaign finance records reported by the Wall Street Journal.” (10/13/260
- Vatican says Pope Leo’s lung nodule surgery was successfully completed
Source: New York Post
“Pope Leo XIV underwent surgery Tuesday to remove a lung nodule and the Vatican said the operation was completed ‘successfully, on schedule and as planned.’ The 71-year-old Leo returned to his room after the surgery at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, according to a statement from the Vatican spokesman, who promised further information at a later time. Leo had walked into Rome’s Gemelli hospital through the main entrance earlier in the day and waved to dozens of well-wishers who had gathered to greet him.” (10/13/26)
- Philippines: Prosecution drops three impeachment charges against Duterte
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“The Philippine Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, approved the prosecution’s withdrawal of most of the charges against Vice-President Sara Duterte on Tuesday, in a trial that could kill her hopes to run for president in 2028. Prosecutors have been presenting evidence against Duterte since July on charges that she betrayed public trust, amassed unexplained wealth, violated the constitution and committed corruption, bribery and other high crimes. Lead prosecutor Gerville Luistro told the court on Tuesday that they sought to withdraw three of the four charges and leave the allegations of unexplained wealth as the sole remaining issue for senators to rule on. … Focusing on a single charge would substantially narrow the issues before the court, offering practical benefits for the Senate, the respondent and the public, Luistro said.” (10/13/26)
- Former gang boss sentenced to 40 years for orchestrating Tupac Shakur’s murder
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Former gang boss Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for orchestrating the murder of Tupac Shakur. A jury found Davis guilty in September of one count of murder with a deadly weapon for the rap superstar’s death in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas on 7 September 1996. He has said he will appeal the verdict. The 63-year-old gang boss'[s] conviction was the first in a cold case that has intrigued hip-hop fans for nearly 30 years. Prosecutors argued that although Davis did not fire the gun himself, he was the ringleader of the group that committed the murder. He admitted in his memoir that he had provided the gun used in the crime. … the book and interviews he offered elaborating on his role in Shakur’s killing voided a protective agreement he had established with authorities that had blocked any criminal charges from being filed.” (10/13/26)
- NASA’s Perseverance rover breaks record for off-world driving distance
Source: Engadget
“NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover just broke the record for the farthest distance traveled by any vehicle on another world, the space agency announced. The six-wheeled, nuclear-powered buggy has now traveled 28.10 miles (45.22 km) as of October 11th, besting NASA’s Opportunity rover that rolled 28.06 miles (45.16 km) across the red planet’s surface. Perseverance managed the feet in just five and a half years, compared to nearly 15 for the plucky Opportunity. … Thanks to a recent software update, Perseverance can now roll more and steer less to save wear on parts, while checking its own position against orbital maps in mid-drive. Next, the team wants to overcome camera glare issues from sunlight that impede its vision, so the rover can work longer days.” (10/13/26)
- Man used AI songs and 10,000 bots to collect $8 million in fraudulent music royalties, prosecutors say
Source: Fox News
“A North Carolina man was sentenced to 18 months in prison after prosecutors said he used AI, or super intelligence, to create music and thousands of bots to fraudulently collect more than $8 million in streaming royalties. Michael Smith, 54, of Cornelius, North Carolina, pleaded guilty in March to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and was sentenced Oct. 6, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. … From 2017 to 2024, Smith created thousands of fake accounts on streaming platforms including Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube Music, prosecutors said. He then used automated software to continuously stream songs he owned, many of which were generated using AI technology, allowing him to collect royalty payments for streams that did not come from real listeners.” (10/12/26)
- Drone attack sinks ship off Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast, PM says
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Two ships have been hit in drone attacks off Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast, with one of them sinking, Prime Minister Rumen Radev said. The Ukrainian-owned Chelsea 3, which was sailing under a Maltese flag, was hit by three drones and damaged about 18 nautical miles (33km) off Bulgaria at about 1:30am on Tuesday (22:30 GMT on Monday), Radev said. Radev said its 15-man crew, seven of them Ukrainians and eight Azerbaijanis, was rescued. Five crew members received medical assistance, and no one was seriously injured. He added that one crew member from the ship that sank was also rescued.” (10/12/26)
- CA: Reality TV personality shot and killed
Source: SFGate
“A 29-year-old reality television star was shot and killed early Sunday morning in downtown Oakland. Police were called to the 200 block of 14th Street in Oakland at approximately 1:30 a.m. on a report of a shooting, the Oakland Police Department told SFGATE in a statement. When officers arrived, they found Mackayla Paige, a Richmond resident, with a gunshot wound. Paige was transported to the hospital where she later died of her injuries, OPD said. A woman, also from Richmond, was arrested in connection with the shooting, OPD said. … Paige, also known as ‘Kash,’ was featured in several reality series on Now That’s TV, a subscription streaming network.” (10/12/26)
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/reality-tv-shooting-kash-22474234.php
- Sixth measles-related death reported amid Pennsylvania outbreak
Source: United Press International
“A sixth measles-related death has been reported in Pennsylvania, where health officials have been battling an outbreak of the highly contagious but vaccine-preventable disease. The death was reported Monday by the Franklin County Coroner’s Office, which identified the deceased as a 39-year-old woman who had several underlying health conditions and had previously been diagnosed with and treated for measles. … There have been a total of 1,136 cases of the disease in the current outbreak as of Friday, with 157 new cases reported over the previous seven days, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s measles dashboard.” (10/12/26)
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2026/10/13/sixth-death-measles-Pennsylvania/5001791868296/
- Congo: Kabila launches an anti-government front including M23 rebels
Source: ABC News
“Former Congolese President Joseph Kabila on Monday launched a new political and military coalition of groups opposed to the current government, including the M23 rebels who have captured wide swaths of territory in eastern Congo. Kabila’s new Front for the Refoundation of the Nation, or FRN, includes rebel groups formerly united under the Congo River Alliance, whose former leader Corneille Nangaa will serve as one of the new coalition’s four vice presidents. … President Felix Tshisekedi’s government gave no immediate reaction to the announcement, which is seen as a major challenge to Tshisekedi’s administration and a serious complication for the current peace process with rebels, which has had only limited success.” (10/12/26)
- Annual Fundraiser Update: We’re Falling Behind
Thanks to subscribing contributors CJTS and TM, whose contributions yesterday, totaling $12.50, bring our annual fundraiser total (as of 5am) to $285.50!
We’re past the 10% point toward our goal ($2,751.50, after which supporter GL has pledged to “match funds” for the $5,503 total) … but we’re also past the 14% mark in terms of schedule (92 days). So:
PLEASE SUPPORT THE FREEDOM MOVEMENT’S DAILY NEWSPAPER!
We’re a reader-supported publication. You’re a reader. And we only come to you once a year with the strong-arm fundraising stuff. As soon as we hit our goal, I stop doing that for the rest of the year, and MOST of the following year. Let’s get this over with 🙂
Have a great day.
Yours in liberty,
Tom Knapp
Publisher
Rational Review News Digest / Freedom News Daily - Ilhan Omar responds to US heimatschutz raid on DC home
Source: New York Post
“‘Squad’ Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) defiantly broke her silence after a Homeland Security Investigations raid of her DC residence on Monday, as she and her allies claimed the action was part of President Trump’s repeated attempts to intimidate her as a political foe. ‘I’m ok. Make no mistake: this is an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement,’ Omar said in a statement on X. ‘For ten years, Trump has targeted me with baseless lies and smear campaigns. This is just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation.’ ‘I will not be silenced,’ the congresswoman added in a personal response to the president. … Sources familiar with the law enforcement action indicated that the congresswoman had been the subject of a multi-year probe related to her immigration history, potentially as a result of her father making a false statement on paperwork.” (10/12/26)
- India: “Cockroach” leaders abducted
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“Leaders of India’s Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) were detained early on Tuesday after they entered a heavily-guarded protest site and chanted slogans demanding the country’s election chief resign over a controversial revision of electoral rolls. Party founder Abhijeet Dipke shared a video showing Ashutosh Ranka and Saurav Das being taken away by police from Jantar Mantar, a historic Delhi observatory popular for protests. … The detentions came a day after the federal home ministry announced that Jantar Mantar, long associated with public protests in Delhi, would no longer be a designated protest venue. Authorities instead identified three alternative locations where demonstrations can be held with permission.” (10/13/26)
- US regime threatens to cut off intel, weapons to Ukrainian regime
Source: The Hill
“The Trump administration is threatening to cut off intelligence sharing and weapons sales to Europe for Ukraine should Kyiv not halt its deep strikes on Russian energy infrastructure, multiple outlets reported Monday. The State Department and the Pentagon made the warnings to officials in Ukraine and Europe over the weekend, with the U.S. military directly communicating the threat to Ukrainian commanders, CNN reported. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill. The Financial Times was the first to report on the U.S. warning, which included threats to cut off the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List mechanism for buying American weapons for Ukraine. The initiative is managed by NATO and is used to procure U.S.-produced weapons to be sent to Kyiv.” (10/12/26)
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/6142999-ukraine-us-intelligence-sharing-weapons-russia-strikes/
- Iranian regime sets crosshairs on “US-UAE” oil shuttle out of Strait of Hormuz
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Iranian authorities have signalled they intend to disrupt an Arab-operated and United States-assisted shuttle system that has enabled more energy exports through the Strait of Hormuz during the US-Israel war on Iran. With the US naval blockade of Iran’s southern ports in place and sanctions tightening, Tehran has said it will pursue military and diplomatic efforts to put pressure on Washington to submit to its demands regarding reopening the Strait of Hormuz. … Iran has claimed the US accepted some of Tehran’s seven conditions for the full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and ending the war. But Tehran insists that a deal will only materialise when all its demands are met.” (10/12/26)
- UK: Burnham accuses Russian regime of meddling in Brexit vote
Source: Washington Post
“Prime Minister Andy Burnham sparked fury in Britain on Monday with his assertion that Russia had sought to interfere in the 2016 Brexit vote that took the country out of the European Union, breaking with previous premiers who said there was no evidence Moscow had meddled. Burnham made the remarks on ‘The Rest Is Politics,’ a popular British podcast released overnight, saying he wanted to highlight the danger of Russian misinformation as European countries prepare for elections at a time of hyperpolarization. … His remarks infuriated Brexit supporters, who accused him of resurfacing the issue to cast doubt on the results of a referendum that has divided the British for 10 years.” (10/12/26)
- Pope Leo to be hospitalised on Tuesday ahead of surgery, Vatican says
Source: Reuters
“Pope Leo will go into hospital on Tuesday before surgery to remove a small growth found on one of his lungs, the Vatican said, as the pontiff kept up a busy schedule on Monday, holding seven previously planned meetings in the morning. Leo, 71, said on Sunday that the growth, a small nodule, had been found on a recent check-up, was ‘well-contained’ and had been spotted early. … The Vatican has said the pope’s recovery is expected to take about a week.” (10/12/26)
- Why Pete Hegseth and Christa Pike Prove We Must End the Death Penalty
Source: Karl Dickey’s Freedom Vanguard
by Karl Dickey“Utilizing state power to execute those who have killed others with a 3.15% failure rate should cause Americans to pause and take a step back to consider what is happening here. Yes, we want blood for those who have wrongly taken innocent lives, but is this how we want to be known? Government fails at most of the services it attempts, wasting our tax money in the process via mismanaged programs and bungled operations. You would think Americans have seen so much incompetence from government that they would seek their services as a last resort, but all too often we have handed over the simplest of jobs to government only to watch them muck it up. No rational person would give a failing monopoly like the government the legal power to end a life.” (10/13/26)
https://palmbeachexaminer.substack.com/p/why-pete-hegseth-and-christa-pike
- Two troubled Senate races could spoil Democrats’ blue-wave fantasy
Source: Fox News
by Liz Peek“The midterm elections are three weeks away. In some states, voting has already begun. Betting site Kalshi shows odds of 61% that Democrats will win control of the Senate. Recent developments in the Texas and Michigan races suggest keeping your money in your pocket. As voters find out more about front-runner Democrats James Talarico in Texas and Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, the polls are tightening. They say intimacy breeds contempt; nowhere is this truer than in politics. … Talarico, a photogenic 37-year-old state representative, recently vanished from public view for nearly two weeks, an extraordinary absence so close to Election Day. He says he had the flu; does he not know about Theraflu? Has he heard of Zoom?” [editor’s note: I doubt that the campaign to create an “October Surprise” in Texas out of thin air will work; it’s too obviously a desperation play – TLK] (10/13/26)
- Going, Going … Gone?
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Mark Nayler“Between now and November 29, there will be widespread speculation about whether the ‘Houdini’ of Spanish politics, as Sánchez is sometimes called, can extricate himself from another tight spot; and there will be hand-wringing editorials in the center-left press about the potential demise of Europe’s only ‘progressive’ leader and the deterioration of European democracy. All of which misses the point—because Sánchez himself has done a lot to damage Spain’s democracy. The key question posed by the snap election is ‘Why didn’t Sánchez call one sooner?’ Or, to put it the other way around: ‘Why is he still in power?'” (10/13/26)
- UN and The Hague Confront Impunity for War Crimes
Source: Common Dreams
by Nicolas JS Davies“On October 9th, the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize Was awarded to Navi Pillay, the South African international lawyer who defended Nelson Mandela and the anti-apartheid political prisoners on Robben Island, and went on to serve as a judge on the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Court (ICC), then as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. In 2025, Navi Pillay led the UN Commission of Inquiry that confirmed that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. With the world in the grip of seemingly intractable war and chaos, the Nobel Committee clearly wanted to honor someone who has worked against the tide of militarism and violence to uphold international law. And yet, on the same day, the United States unveiled unilateral, illegal coercive measures or “sanctions” against the ICC, where Navi Pillay served as a judge from 2003 to 2008.” (10/13/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/un-and-the-hague-confront-impunity-for-war-crimes
- The seven stages of American decline
Source: Asia Times
“For a time, the West comfortably regarded China as the world’s workshop, a place that made cheap goods and left the clever work to others. By the 2020s, that picture was untenable. Chinese companies led in electric vehicles, batteries, green energy, and 5G, and competed hard in artificial intelligence and semiconductors. Policymakers in Washington and Brussels were stunned. Like a bereaved person who functions normally on the surface while feeling nothing underneath, the West was slow to grasp that its monopoly had gone. Shock tends to give way to denial, and the Western response followed the pattern. … Reconstruction occurs when one ceases to wonder why this had to happen and wonders instead what could still be done. The crucial realization is that while one cannot change the situation, one can determine how one reacts to it.” (10/13/26)
https://asiatimes.com/2026/10/the-seven-stages-of-american-decline/
- Natural Law Principles in the Conservative Tradition
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Wanjiru Njoya“Texas Republicans recently became embroiled in a dispute between two factions that we could call, for purposes of exposition, the ‘Heritage Texans’ and the ‘Creedal Texans.’ Heritage Republicans believe that a nation is constituted by a specific and identifiable people who are historically rooted in a place over time, while Creedal Republicans believe in a concept they call ‘the idea of Texas.’ Their idea of Texas involves hard work, love of football, and the savoir-faire to say, ‘Hook ‘em Horns.’ To the Creedals, anyone from anywhere in the world who embraces this idea is as much a Texan as anyone whose ancestors rode with the Texas cavalry in 1861. Which of these factions represents true conservatism? What is real conservatism, anyway, in a situation where different sides of an allegedly conservative party are unable to agree on such a fundamental issue?” (10/13/26)
https://mises.org/mises-wire/natural-law-principles-conservative-tradition
- How JFK Helped Pave the Way for Trump’s Crackdown on Dissent
Source: Foreign Policy
by Julia Harte“The Justice Department once prosecuted a U.S. journalist for coming home without a passport after a reporting trip to Cuba. He was charged with violating an obscure requirement in the Immigration and Nationality Act. As the journalist pointed out, dozens of white Americans had reentered the United States without passports for various reasons since the law’s enactment, but only he—a Black reporter with a penchant for muckraking—had been punished for doing so. This happened in 1962, under President John F. Kennedy, and the target was William Worthy, one of the nation’s most distinguished international correspondents. … Today, Worthy is unknown to most Americans. But 64 years after the court case that briefly made him a household name, his legacy is more relevant than ever. His story shows how precedent set by Kennedy helped pave the way for future administrations, including Donald Trump’s, to suppress speech and foreign influences that challenge U.S. geopolitical interests.” (10/13/26)
- Dean of Students Warns that Saying “In Christ Alone” Constitutes “White Privilege”
Source: Jonathan Turley
by Jonathan Turley“My recent USA Today column discusses how the Democrats have suddenly discovered God in elections after recruiting various far-left ministers to run on faith-based anti-Trump messages. I discussed how Divinity Schools have shown the same trend as other departments in higher education with a radical shift to the left. That was evident in a controversy this week at Point Loma Nazarene University, where Dean of Students Jason Cha told student leaders that identifying as being ‘in Christ alone’ is a sign of ‘white privilege’. Dean Cha is an example of the resumes that draw appointments and presentations in higher education. According to The College Fix, Cha’s 2023 dissertation at Azusa Pacific University was titled ‘Raging Waters of Whiteness: Addressing White Evangelical Racism in Higher Education’. His scholarship draws on critical pedagogy, incorporating ‘critical race theory, critical white studies, and evangelical postcolonial studies’.” (10/13/26)
- What Does “History and Tradition” Require?
Source: Law & Liberty
by Mark David Hall“Some advocates of the strict separation between church and state have suggested that for a practice to be constitutional, there must be a long history and tradition of states engaging in that specific act. For instance, in several of the recent cases involving posting copies of the Ten Commandments in public schools, a few advocates and judges thought it significant that the states could not demonstrate that there is a long and unbroken tradition of posting the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms. A chief problem with this argument is that the Supreme Court has never said that there must be longstanding and widespread history of governments engaging in specific practices in order for them to be permissible.” (10/13/26)
https://lawliberty.org/what-does-history-and-tradition-require/
- The Shot and the Lie
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Jeffrey A Tucker“Sure, I’m frustrated. After years of litigation, deep audits, and some extreme dedication by the vaccine-injured, we now are in possession of a 1,048-page book that details ghastly and widespread injury from shots people were forced to get. Many died. Many have lifelong suffering. Many have seen their lives, finances, and families shattered. These are not statistics on a preprint server awaiting the arduous process of slogging through anonymous peer-reviewers. This is not another model that conjures up possible scenarios. This is not some dry dashboard with probabilities and possibilities. These are the life stories of real people as reported to the CDC through its own vaccine-safety monitoring system called V-safe.” (10/13/26)
- “Major wipeout” of 2006 proportions could force a new GOP reckoning
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by W James Antle III“Republicans could be looking at a major wipeout in the midterm elections. Their tiny House majority was always going to be difficult to maintain, but the Senate should not be in play at all. Yet it surely is, with Democrats leading in nearly all the toss-up races, including in the reddest states, and competitive in at least a dozen of the contests that will determine which party controls the upper chamber. The Iran war is a big reason this has come to pass. … there is a potential for a midterm election more like 2006. Twenty years ago, as Cook Political Report’s Amy Walter pointed out earlier this year, we had an unpopular president waging an unpopular war while Republican congressional incumbents were beset by assorted scandals.” (10/13/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/republicans-lose-midterms-war/
- When The Gates Of Tech Dystopia Snap Shut
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone“There’s a viral video clip showing a group of wild boars getting caught in a corral trap. When the gate snaps shut the poor animals run around in a panic, searching in vain for an exit. According to the caption that’s been going around, the trapper waited patiently for five days for the entire sounder to get comfortable enough to take the bait and enter the trap all at once. The gate didn’t close until the final pig walked into the enclosure. And, yeah. That’s pretty much where we’re at right now. We’ve been standing around munching on our bait, enjoying our bread and our circuses, blissfully unaware of the trapper who is patiently waiting for the perfect moment to slam the gate shut on us all: ‘Man, AI sure is great.'” (10/13/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/10/13/when-the-gates-of-tech-dystopia-snap-shut/
- Emotions versus Reason in Economics
Source: Cobden Centre
by Dr. Frank Shostak“Contrary to the mainstream framework, Murray N. Rothbard held that valuations do not exist apart of the things to be valued. Whenever an individual is confronted with a good, he assesses it in accordance with it expected benefits to his life and well-being. These benefits are likely to vary given changes in individual’s circumstances. From this, it follows that an unchanged scale of preferences does not comply with the reality. Obviously, human beings do change their minds, so it is not surprising that the [behavioral economics] practitioners have ‘discovered’ that human beings’ behavior systematically deviates from the one depicted by the mainstream economics. … Since in the BE framework reason is not the key driver of individuals’ choices; individuals’ evaluations of goods are arbitrary i.e. not connected to the facts of reality.” (10/13/26)
https://www.cobdencentre.org/2026/10/emotions-versus-reason-in-economics-2/
- Former Spymasters, a Taped Mouth, and the Market in Cross-Border Snatching
Source: Antiwar.com
by Thomas S Karat“Just after midnight on New Year’s Day 2024, a man and his two children stood near the harbor in the Danish town of Gråsten, watching fireworks over the water a short walk from the house where the children had been living. … masked men rushed the family and knocked the father, then forty-nine, to the ground. The same witness described one child being loaded into a car while the other fought back, held by two men who carried it by the limbs. … They were carried more than eight hundred kilometers south to a farm in Baden-Württemberg and held in a mobile home until their mother arrived to collect them …. The men she is accused of hiring were not ordinary criminals. The prosecution’s case and the testimony of the operatives themselves describe an operation brokered by the former head of Germany’s foreign intelligence service and carried out by veterans of Israel’s.” (10/13/26)
- Why British liberals need the Russian bogeyman
Source: UnHerd
by Thomas Fazi“Since the 2016 Russiagate fiasco, it has become standard practice among Western elites, especially in Europe, to blame every unwelcome election result — and above all every ‘populist’ rebuke to their rule — on Russian ‘disinformation’ and ‘interference’. The campaign has escalated dramatically since 2022. We are told that Russia has for years been running a vast influence operation aimed at manipulating helpless voters. Yet the evidence that this operation has reached, let alone swayed, any meaningful number of them is scant to say the least.” (10/12/26)
- Where in the World Was James Talarico?
Source: Town Hall
by Derek Hunter“The bowl-cut leftist in Texas, James Talarico, came off the milk carton and returned to the world of the living over the weekend. Where he was remains a mystery, as does why he was gone. What isn’t a mystery is why the corporate media didn’t really cover the story much or question anything related to a candidate in the highest-profile Senate election in the country disappearing for almost two weeks. The ‘official story’ is that Talarico, a very odd person to begin with, simply had the flu. I’ve had the flu, and it’s not fun. It also doesn’t put people in bed for two weeks and rob you of the ability to make any public appearances, if only via video chat. … Was he at a mental health facility for inpatient treatment after a breakdown?” [editor’s note: Obviously not, or he and Hunter would likely have been roomies – TLK] (10/13/26)
- Wealth Taxes, Socialist Ideology, and Absent Economics
Source: Independent Institute
by Nikolai G Wenzel“In these times of runaway public debt and perennial crisis in public finances, the wealth tax is a bad idea that just won’t go away. Just a year ago, the prudent Swiss rejected a steep inheritance tax. France—thanks to political machinations in a hung Parliament, rather than deep conviction or prudence—rejected the resuscitation of its failed wealth taxes (1982-1987 and 1989-2012). The UK floated a similar proposal, which went nowhere. Since 2022, Spain has had a ‘temporary solidarity tax on big fortunes’. Alas, this isn’t just a European game. … Perhaps the main problem is that bad policy proposals are being driven by bad economics, with the imprimatur of high-profile scholars.” (10/12/260
- Eric Ueland Shouldn’t Lead the Government Accountability Office
Source: Exiled Policy
by Jason Pye“Congress shouldn’t need a lecture on why putting Russ Vought’s deputy in charge of its watchdog is a terrible idea. Well, here we are. The White House is considering Eric Ueland as comptroller general, head of the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Ueland serves as deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget, under Vought. The administration whose conduct GAO has repeatedly found unlawful now wants one of its senior officials to run the institution that scrutinizes that conduct. This is a terrible idea.” (10/12/260
https://exiledpolicy.substack.com/p/eric-ueland-shouldnt-lead-the-government
- Make Big Brother Bad for Big Business
Source: The Atlantic
by Conor Friedersdorf“[M]ost of Flock’s network and its competitors’ cameras remain in place. And fans of the technology want to keep it that way; they argue that there is no reasonable expectation of privacy on roads, and that a network of cameras that logs every passing vehicle is a vital tool for catching criminals. Most surveillance boosters don’t deny that serious abuses have happened or wholly dismiss privacy concerns. Instead, they urge the use of safeguards and the passage of regulations to address them. But this technology is already ubiquitous. States and localities should not permit its dangers to persist in the hope that one day, our often passive legislators will act. Instead, Americans should work to ban mass surveillance of public roads in every jurisdiction where they can secure support from elected officials until strong protections are in place.” (10/12/26)
- Time to De-Privatize?
Source: The American Prospect
by Robert Kuttner“Last week, I published a piece on a private company called ID.me, which has over a billion dollars in contracts with federal and state agencies to provide secure identification when citizens do digital transactions with government agencies. Because this company is a dot-me rather than a dot-com, several readers wrote me to say that they had just assumed it was part of the government. Over 150 million Americans now have ID.me accounts, which are required to access several government agencies. ID.me has a policy of never selling data. But that’s not the problem. The problem is that allowing citizens to access government agencies is a necessary government function. As I wrote, contracting out that function deprives the government of core competence, and the dependence on for-profit vendors grows over time.” [editor’s not4e: I added the “?” to make this a discussion, instead of the assertion of the socialist pundit – SAT] (10/13/26)
https://prospect.org/2026/10/13/time-to-de-privatize-federal-government/
- The Government Doesn’t Know What’s Best for You. Why Let It Decide What You Should Eat?
Source: Reason
by Jeffrey A Singer“Governments have spent decades issuing dietary guidelines, sponsoring public health campaigns, and encouraging consumers to cut back on sugary, salty, and fatty foods. Now they’re moving beyond persuasion and adopting more aggressive measures to influence what people eat. In an October 8 article titled ‘Nagging People to Eat Healthily Does Not Work,’ The Economist describes a growing international movement to tax unhealthy foods, restrict advertising, require warning labels, and regulate how supermarkets display and promote their products. Such measures are needed, officials argue, because the earlier approach failed to curb rising obesity rates. … The government has a poor track record in providing nutritional advice.” (10/12/26)
- What Comes After Politics?
Source: Underthrow
by Max Borders“In 1992, the urbanist Jane Jacobs argued that civilization runs on two moral codes, which she calls syndromes. 1. Guardian Syndrome prizes loyalty, hierarchy, and force. 2. Commercial Syndrome prizes innovation, production, and trade. For centuries, these two codes split the world between the State and the Market. But remember, these exist only as aggregations of people—bureaucrats and businesspeople. Bureaucrats are supposed to bring order and solve societal problems. Businesspeople are supposed to produce and trade goods and services. But an uncomfortable truth lingers: As State and Market have long sought a negotiated political arrangement called the mixed economy, it has created various subspecies of fascism. … Today, that arrangement is breaking down. It’s breaking down because Guardian Syndrome and Commercial Syndrome are functionally incompatible.” (10/12/26)
- A Hard Look at Libertarianism
Source: Liberal Currents
by Janet Bufton“In 2017, Duke historian Nancy MacLean’s Democracy in Chains argued that the libertarian movement had helped make overt racism in American politics mainstream and undermined liberal democracy. … but she missed the real story. Bizarrely, MacLean focused on Nobel laureate James Buchanan. The far better target would have been ‘Mr. Libertarian’ and co-founder of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, Murray Rothbard. Buchanan was an academic libertarian, while Rothbard spent his later career arguing that libertarianism should ally with the racist, nativist populism of the nationalist right. … The historian Quinn Slobodian takes up MacLean’s task (from a different angle) in his 2025 book, Hayek’s Bastards: Race, Gold, IQ, and the Capitalism of the Far Right. … Despite its limitations, it demonstrates that libertarians had the intellectual tools to resist the far right’s encroachment but, on the main, chose not to use them.” (10/12/26)
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/a-hard-look-at-libertarianism/
- Trump, the modern mercantilist
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Madsen Pirie“The case that Trump is a latterday mercantilist is surprisingly strong. Mercantilism was never a tidy theory. It was a set of habits that involves treating trade as a contest, counting the surplus as the score, and letting the state steer commerce toward national power. On each count, Trump’s record fits. The mercantilists believed one nation’s gain was another’s loss. Trump speaks in exactly these terms. A trade deficit with a country means America is ‘losing’ to it, and a surplus means winning. Mainstream economists see a bilateral deficit as a mostly meaningless accounting result of millions of voluntary exchanges. Trump sees it as a scorecard.” (10/12/26)
https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/trump-the-modern-mercantilist
- Who Owns Your Life?
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by George Ford Smith“Ask a young person whether he personally consented to everything the federal government has the legal authority to require of him. If he answers no, the conventional reply is that direct consent isn’t necessary: he is represented by elected officials. But representation is not agency in the ordinary sense. He has signed no contract with his representative, cannot direct his votes, and cannot terminate the relationship even if the representative breaks all his campaign promises. Furthermore, he is still subject to their legislation even if he didn’t vote or if the legislation was passed before he was eligible to vote. How many people alive today voted for legislation establishing a legal counterfeiting racket known as the federal reserve or the income tax and its associated hit squad, the IRS? Or the Selective Service Act of 1918?” (10/12/26)
- Should media have a duty of care to discourage political polarization?
Source: Freedom and Flourishing
by Winton Bates“Media proprietors may have a moral responsibility to prevent their platforms being used to inflame polarization, but that does not justify government attempts to impose content standards. By suppressing discussion of controversial social and political issues, Australia’s proposed new duty of care laws may well impose harms on the community that far exceed the harms that these laws will prevent.” (10/12/26)
https://www.freedomandflourishing.com/2026/10/should-media-have-duty-of-care-to.html
- Radical wannabe Chevalier just said quiet part out loud about violent criminals
Source: New York Post
by staff“New York radical congressional wannabe Darializa Avila Chevalier just said the quiet part out loud: It ‘doesn’t matter’ to her that illegal [sic] immigrant and alleged gangbanger Oscar Belgal has a violent criminal record. She wants him free to roam the streets and terrorize neighbors all the same. Well, nuts to that: Belgal’s violent criminal record ‘matters’ to normal New Yorkers. Enormously. They want thugs like him gone, and they’re beyond grateful ICE agents are risking their lives to boot these menaces from US soil — and keep Americans safe. Alas, Chevalier is not alone. Indeed, she’s giving voice to exactly the kind of scary views of many on the far-left, from Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani on down — even if they don’t put it so honestly.” (10/12/26)
- JD Vance’s Walk in the Forest of Forgetfulness
Source: Cato Institute
by Dan Greenberg“Lewis Carroll’s fantasy novels about Alice’s adventures have many virtues; one such virtue is that they regularly help explain the Trump administration. Indeed, one episode in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass — his sequel to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland — illuminates an important aspect of politics and human nature. Here’s what happens: As Alice is walking through a deep forest, she suddenly realizes that she cannot recall the proper name of anything. … In a press conference last week, our vice president displayed such forgetfulness. In J.D. Vance’s discussion of new restrictions on H‑1B eligibility, he was asked what he understood ‘socialism’ to be.” (10/12/26)
https://www.cato.org/blog/j-d-vances-walk-forest-forgetfulness
- Thymos and American Foreign Policy
Source: Persuasion
by Francis Fukuyama“Secretary of State Marco Rubio gave a speech at the Pnyx in Athens on October 7 …. at the heart of his address he talks about thymos (he transliterates it as thumos) as the core value of Western civilization. This is correct in some fashion, but Rubio’s understanding of the idea is very deficient. … Thymos is at the core not just of Western civilization, but, as Hegel and his interpreter Alexandre Kojève noted, of politics as a whole. The first bloody battle between early human beings was driven by the desire for dominance and recognition, by the willingness to risk one’s life. This struggle for dominance leads to a society of masters and slaves, in which neither party is fully satisfied—the slave for obvious reasons, but the master as well because he is recognized by someone who is only a slave.” (10/12/26)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/thymos-and-american-foreign-policy
- Now the whole story is exposed: Trump was framed by the Russia collusion hoax
Source: Fox News
by Gregg Jarrett“It was the dirtiest trick ever perpetrated in politics that produced the greatest mass delusion in American history. It was a faux scandal and an epic con job, corrupt from the outset. Fox Nation has produced a remarkable three-part documentary series, ‘Russia! Russia! Russia! The Plot to Stop Trump’. All three episodes premiere on Fox’s streaming network on Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. It tells the gripping story of lies and lying people. The damning narrative that Donald Trump somehow colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 presidential election, you’ll recall, consumed the media landscape for more than two years and dominated political discourse. It nearly brought down a duly elected president. So stunning was the abuse of power that this series must be seen to be believed. It is based on troves of recently disclosed government records and other declassified documents.” (10/12/26)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/gregg-jarrett-trump-framed-russia-collusion-hoax-story-exposed
- Should Christa Pike Live?
Source: The Dispatch
by Lyia Dugdale“Christa Pike’s botched execution in Tennessee last week raises a host of questions about what comes next, what Gov. Bill Lee should do, and what is meant by ‘cruel and unusual.’ These are legal questions, but they are also ethical and political questions, and they demand our consideration. As an ethicist, I’m interested in the ought questions. In this case: What ought the state to do after a failed execution attempt? This is not to debate the moral acceptability of capital punishment or even the particulars of Pike’s case. It’s simply to inquire what should come next.” (10/12/26)
https://thedispatch.com/article/christa-pike-tennessee-execution-constitution/
- The Coming Out of Jack Smith: A Former Special Counsel Joins the “No Kings” Movement
Source: Jonathan Turley
by Jonathan Turley“After his recent congressional testimony, former Special Counsel Jack Smith appeared at a ‘Power to the People Fest’ sporting a ‘No Kings’ T-shirt. Aside from a midlife crisis, the most likely explanation is that Smith wanted to send a message, reaffirming his bona fides as an anti-Trump warrior. It was a Comey moment, but without the seashells. The Power to the People Fest featured many whom Smith has long cultivated in the ‘Democracy-is-Ending’ crowd. The organizers billed the event as ‘working to restore and strengthen democracy’ and featured some of Trump’s loudest critics. The top billing went to Bruce Springsteen, who has lately turned his concerts into anti-Trump rave sessions, including comparing Trump officials to ‘Gestapo’ and calling the administration ‘treasonous’. He continued those attacks at the concert with Smith, denouncing Trump as ‘lawless’ and his administration as murderers.” (10/12/26)
- Plan B for Trump’s election intimidation: An iron fist in a velvet glove
Source: The Hill
by Steven J Lepper, Dan Maurer, & Eugene R Fidell“Gen. Dan Caine, the nation’s senior-most military leader, recently told Sen Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) that the U.S. military has ‘no plans’ to be at polling places in November. But President Trump has made it impossible to dismiss fears of military interference. To the contrary, his persistent assault on the integrity of the voting process, his suggestion that Republicans ‘should take over the voting in at least 15 places,’ and his refusal to rule out invoking the Insurrection Act have led many to begin bracing for an imminent collision. Americans across the country are worrying that their constitutionally-assured right to vote will be curtailed by Trump’s increasingly frantic search for anything that will preserve his party’s congressional majorities.” (10/12/26)
https://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/6141788-trump-military-polling-interference/
- If The Truth Is A Threat To Israel, Then Israel Should Not Exist
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone“Israel is so evil that it’s actually illegal for Israelis to tell the truth about it. Benjamin Netanyahu has just ordered Israel’s military, its attorney general, and its security agency Shin Bet to investigate and prosecute the soldiers who anonymously shared their experiences in the Gaza Strip with the award-winning investigative documentary [sic] ‘NAZA’. According to Haaretz, Netanyahu accused the soldiers of ‘serious information security offenses, criminal defamation and harm to Israel’s diplomatic and security interests’, adding that ‘there is concern that those involved in the defamatory film committed serious criminal offenses by exposing highly classified information and creating a breach in the information security of a highly sensitive intelligence unit’. Netanyahu’s accusations of ‘defamation’ are contradicted by his other accusation of ‘exposing highly classified information’. The 24 soldiers interviewed for the film are being prosecuted not because they told lies about Israel, but because they told the truth.” (10/12/26)
- Washington Still Wants Moscow Contained
Source: Libertarian Institute
by José Niño“U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly promised he could end the Russo-Ukrainian War quickly. Yet the actions attributed to his administration point toward a more familiar Washington strategy that demands capitulation to the so-called ‘rules-based’ order. The contradiction reinforces an old rule of politics. Watch what officials do, not simply what they say.” (10/12/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/washington-still-wants-moscow-contained/
- The Good Fight, 10/13/26
Source: Yascha Mounk
“David Deming on the Future of Universities in the Age of AI.” (10/13/26)
- Show-Me Institute Podcast, 10/13/26
Source: Show-Me Institute
“A Vision for the Future of American Education with James V. Shuls and Jason Bedrick.” (10/13/26)
- Questions For Corbett, 10/13/26
Source: The Corbett Report
“James answers your questions on Japanese residence cards, online research tips, a digital bill of rights, trash reading and what happened to NWNW.” (10/13/26)
https://corbettreport.com/a-digital-bill-of-rights-questions-for-corbett/
- The Bryan Hyde Show, 10/13/26
Source: The Bryan Hyde Show
“As the midterm elections get closer, the application of labels becomes ever more frenzied. Barry Brownstein has a timely reminder that the clearest distinction we must make is between collectivism and the individual.” (10/13/26)
- Pink Flame of Liberty, 10/12/26
Source: Pink Flame of Liberty
“Keith Thompson’s Honeypot LIKE A BOSS.” (10/12/26)
- Reason Roundtable, 10/12/26
Source: Reason
“J.D. Vance Is Playing Dumb About Socialism.” (10/12/26)
https://reason.com/podcast/2026/10/12/j-d-vance-is-playing-dumb-about-socialism/
- Antiwar News with Dave DeCamp, 10/12/26
Source: Antiwar.com
“US Citizens Detained in Saudi Arabia Over Attack Photos, IRGC Strikes More Ships in Hormuz, and More.” (10/12/26)
- The lost politics of Ammon Bundy
Source: Reason
“Once a leading figure in the anti-government militia movement, Ammon Bundy is now speaking out against President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, arguing that the same federal overreach he spent years fighting is now being directed at immigrants.” (10/12/26)
https://reason.com/video/2026/10/12/the-anti-government-rebel-who-turned-against-maga/
- Rising, 10/12/26
Source: The Hill
“Robby Soave gives his radar on U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle reportedly asking a Trump donor to send $100,000 for her credit card bill.” (10/12/26)
- LibertyDad, episode 778
Source: LibertyDad
“Does The Bible Command The Death Penalty?” (10/12/26)
- Ron Paul Liberty Report, 10/12/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“Will Trump’s Russia Diesel Deal Save The Midterms?” (10/12/26)
- Right Now With Perry Bacon, 10/12/26
Source: The New Republic
“Trump’s Two Choices in Iran.” (10/12/26)
https://newrepublic.com/article/216507/trump-running-foreign-policy-options
- Punk Rock Libertarians Podcast, episode 595
Source: Punk Rock Libertarians
“The crew dives into the latest federal giveaways as Kyle breaks down the $1,000 ‘Trump Accounts’ for newborns and the weird, reptilian-like press conference featuring Susan Dell. The hosts debate the Pentagon’s unprecedented plan to livestream the military firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan, clashing over state-sanctioned murder and the ‘just following orders’ defense. Shifting to public health tyranny, the gang covers New York slapping Amish schools with $2,000-a-day fines over measles vaccine mandates and Maryland sticking to its own aggressive jab schedules. Finally, they react to Pete Hegseth’s anti-woke War Department rhetoric, while Alex and Kyle confirm the bizarre, intrusive physical exams required to join the ranks.” (10/11/26)
- NPR Politics, 10/12/26
Source: National Public Radio [US state media]
“What does the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq mean for the region?” (10/12/26)
- Make It Make Sense, 10/12/26
Source: Washington Post
“Kat Timpf: The right has an affordability problem.” (10/12/26)
- The Headlines, 10/12/26
Source: New York Times
“Growing Threats Against Public Officials, and Trump’s Diesel Deal With Putin.” (10/12/26)
- EconTalk, 10/12/26
Source: EconTalk
“The Great Fertility Collapse (with Jesus Fernandez-Villaverde).” (10/12/26)
https://www.econtalk.org/the-great-fertility-collapse-with-jesus-fernandez-villaverde/
- Neon Liberalism, episode 94
Source: Liberal Currents
“Samantha Hancox-Li and Ben Wittes, editor in chief of Lawfare, discuss how we went from the triumph of the fall of the Berlin Wall to our current world: more war, more conflict, and no end in sight. How did structural factors combined with strategic choices lead to a world where peace has broken down and major power war has returned? Spoiler: it starts in Iraq.” (10/11/26)
- The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg, 10/12/26
Source: The Dispatch
“The Tumultuous, Remarkable Middle East | Interview: Simon Sebag Montefiore.” (10/12/26)
- The Permanent Questions, 10/11/26
Source: The Atlantic
“Do Human Beings Have Souls?” (10/11/26)
https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/2026/10/do-human-beings-have-souls/688931/